Music for the Sake of Music
Broadly speaking when it comes to art and creation, people’s perspectives could differ widely regarding their career and how they make a living based on their artistic skills and talents. Some would prefer to stick to the ideal values, in our case, the music criteria level, its purpose, and how it is presented, all could form a border in which the creation becomes possible. For instance, if the composer felt like screaming with a high-pitched voice to complete the composition if he or she is among the first category, they can never convince themselves to do such a thing, not to offend the image and value of this esteemed form of art (music).
Therefore, their professional life exists within the defined criteria. Producing art for the sake of art. From my perspective, I have experienced some of the common methods of making money with music such as playing an instrument in other musicians’ songs or performing on stage as a band member in front of a huge crowd, masterpieces in music have been created through such methods. I mean the legends of Music such as Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart created their masterpieces not as an order of a client, but as an activity they love and enjoy doing. Not a shred of thought about fame and fortune. Nonetheless, an artist’s mind must be at ease to be able to revolutionize the market. Before we tend to the unusual approaches to making money with music in this category let’s take a look at the common ways we see every day.
Blending Music with Other Passions or Career
Nature
Imagine you are a musician who loves nature. My suggestion as a fellow musician would be to use nature sounds that can be monetized through various forms and methods. One of the most enjoyable ones with promising financial conditions would be your compositions which is indeed odd but helps attract many fans or listeners in The first place. Especially if some of the animals are trained to produce the sound live on stage.
The other approach could be recording high-quality sounds from nature in different forms such as aggressive lightning, stormy ocean, or birds and crickets sounds. There are tons of ways to monetize such a procedure which is presenting the sounds for sale which can be done on different platforms, some of which will buy your sounds and their right to put them on their application so that clients can use them while editing videos or composing music stemming from the nature of that platform or application. Why did I name nature sounds the potential of such sounds is much more than other categories due to their versatile use in different markets ranging from the film industry to natural spas or healing centers or editors of video or music. Nonetheless, other types of sounds might be used only in one genre and mostly narrowed down to one or two categories of mainstream such as horror sounds for games and videos. The main advantage or privilege of such opportunities in business would be starting a form of passive income that in my opinion would be considered to be a blessing for a musician.
Examples of such platforms:
MM
EASY DIGITAL DOWNLOADS
TUNECORE
Political or Sociological Shoutout
Artists in general naturally tend to have a deeper and stronger sense of perception so the pain they feel would be more unbearable. Many artists and musicians have tried to be the voice of their society in various ways through their art.
Musicians could compose pieces in support of a political cause or against the social shortcomings and weaknesses that might have made people’s conditions of living miserable. Mostly music producers or some companies who share the same concern contact them in order to fund their project or they become so famous worldwide that the fame would naturally bring them abundance. Let’s take a look at some of them. Bella Cao is for sure a famous melody for an ear interested in arts and music which symbolizes a mere normal man’s perspective toward life and how he departs from his beloved and supposedly gets martyred. The melody became immortal and for sure exceeded what the musician had in mind.
During the Civil Wars also it is believed that music was the reason that the war did not escalate in 1862 when right outside of Nashville the armies of the South and North met each other, in the New Years eve the song Home Sweet Home stopped the war for a short time and both sides started singing along with it. It’s interesting to say that producers or people active in finance when observing such potential grip the opportunity and some make fortunes for decades. Many singers or musicians these days have preferred to focus on one aspect of society, some have become experts in creating epic battle songs that no one would be immune of the impact after listening to them only once, mostly used in films, war games, and also gym workouts in my opinion.
Frequency Sounds
When we talk about music, what comes to mind is normally a form of pop song stemming from your homeland maybe a folk band playing music. Nonetheless, it could cover a much broader area since musicians, in particular those who have studied music academically, study different sound waves, hertz, and pitches and how they are able to affect one’s mental and physical well-being. Musicians also study the frequency of sounds in some of their lessons.
If it is a language, music is a language of feeling. Musical rhythms are life rhythms, and music with tensions, resolutions, crescendos and diminuendos, major and minor keys, delays and silent interludes, with a temporal unfolding of events, does not present us with a logical language, but, to quote Langer again, it ‘reveals the nature of feelings with a detail and truth that language cannot approach’ (Langer, 1951, p. 199, original emphasis)(Levinemusic, 2022).
I personally have had some experiences in this regard and some experiments. It goes without saying that after the pandemic people’s perspective towards life became deeper. They started to grow a more reflective form of thinking and that is the sole reason for the popularity of guro-type charismatic characters and sources of spiritual teachings and mentors which were TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Hence, people who do actually know what is right or wrong in this regard could make much more money than such channels or accounts. Musicians who do have a say in this matter could start producing music with certain frequencies in certain genres. Subliminal audio files are the other trendy products in the same category.
Due to some beliefs, they can align the magnetic field in a way that listeners will attract money, health, creativity, or whatever the file was intended to do. You might think wow the soundtrack must be something special. No, actually when you listen to them, they are merely normal audio files with a peaceful soundwave and maybe some nature sounds such as a waterfall or a bird’s sound. With a little research, musicians could indeed make fortunes out of this by something like a movement or collage of frequencies. I would enroll as the first student of course, the reason is when we go deeper into reality and existence we understand that it is not matter that forms everything as Einstein said, everything is made up of frequencies and Tesla understood this fact perfectly.
Therefore, by lingering upon such rich scientific grounds, a musician could set his/her foot firmly and aim for health, abundance, and success and psychologically modified sound or music tracks to be presented to the world which is one of the top trends in the world. Due to the vast demand for such things these days the sales rate could excessively heighten in a very short time.
Some Examples of Platforms and Information Sources:
PocketTune
LevineMusic
Ancient Melodies – Fame and Fortune
You all must have seen the Alladin animation, if not, I suggest searching for the song Arabian Nights, there is a spice in the melody that tickles your soul I don’t know why. This is the feature of ancient melodies belonging to old and rich cultures of old civilizations of the earth such as Mesopotamia which is the Middle Eastern country now in which the first signs of civilizations, and groups living together were found. China also is one of those rich and ancient countries with ancient melodies. Now what makes these melodies special? As mentioned before, it is like they had a secret special recipe that differs from the musical productions these days.
Musicians can benefit a lot from the potential buried in this genre. Some games such as the Assasin’s Creed, Prince of Persia, and God of War. Movies such as Trova, Lord of the Rings, etc. have used rich and thick-colored music in this genre and were successful in having the viewers more hooked by hearing the soundtracks like that; the movie Braveheart also is privileged with the same feature. Now the suggestion here is that, if you’re interested in ancient cultures of course, choose a specific culture or history, get inspired and start producing in that field, or, start a platform covering all the ancient cultures’ music. One of my favorites is the Nordic melodies, I cannot describe how amazing and incredible the Nordic melodies are, powerful, natural, and simultaneously delicate.
Here are some examples of ancient melodies
A Nordic Song
Ancient music from Greece, Roma, and medieval music
Saharvaran (Duo for Tanbour and Daf)
Creating New Musical Instruments
There lies another field of oddity in the music industry which is profoundly sensitive and could easily go sideways. It is creating new instruments. Undoubtedly there are always extremists and music fanatics who will disagree with you no matter what. Therefore, one should be well determined and dedicated to the cause, if it is to create a new instrument of music. Background research, and what is going to be added to the previous version must be specifically clear for the musician. I remember some years back in Rock forums I saw a Persian Rock musician and singer who invented the Electric Setar which was opposed by the doctrine and masters of music in their society. I myself loved the idea of course. However, this option is not an easy task, not only do you need to have the knowledge of materials and sound but also academic music knowledge.
Soroosh Ghahremanloo Inventing Electric Setar
Venova by Yamaha
Music for Commercial Purposes (Complementary Role)
Music for Kids
One of the less common niches that musicians opt for in their professional careers would be creating music for the kid’s entertainment industry or education. Despite the lively atmosphere and the sheer delight involved in this genre, unfortunately, many professional musicians believe that this form of professional activity can be demeaning and degrading due to their professional background and also their social level in society. There might be some truth to that, yet, working in such an atmosphere would be profoundly rewarding and therapeutic for the musician as well. Nonetheless, it has become a corner in the music industry that not a lot of musicians are willing to remain active in despite the handsome incomes and paychecks they can receive in this genre.
The Kids’ corner of the music market could be divided into some categories such as children’s ads, TV Programs, Educational Programs, Mascot Song Composition, etc.
It is better to say being active in this genre not only is not easier but also demands a much higher competence in music in addition to children’s psychology and behavioral therapy. Also, if you had much more enthusiasm in you in order to open a center for kids yourself and lacked the proper funds you can always apply for a business grant.
Advertising Industry
The area in which pure creativity occurs along with fun, melody, and entertainment would be the advertising industry. This industry in my opinion is both cruel and loving at the same time. Many creative melodies created for mere and trivial daily products broadcasted in their ad video became immortal legendary melodies sticking with people for ages. It shows the potential and magic of music. Apart from every product’s slogan which is a famous phrase becoming an inseparable part of the brand’s identity, it could come to a catchy melody or song that becomes immersed within the brand. Like the kids’ industry, this one also requires a multi-tasked multifaceted ad specialist who knows a lot about marketing psychology and customers’ behavioral patterns.
Corporation Branding Melodies
Audio-logos / Sound-Branding
This phenomenon has existed since the dawn of videos with sounds being created in the film industry. Different brands use melodies and the power of music to put their foot down in the territory of the audience’s memory and remain there maybe for a lifetime. Musicians if clever and also familiar with a bit of customer psychology he or she could become famous and also receive commission on multiple occasions that the brand uses that sound or in different forms depending on the nature of their agreement with the company.
McDonald’s Sonic logo
Apple Sound logo
Windows 95 by Brian Eno
Netflix Sonic logo
X-Box
MGM Lion Sonic logo
